Utilities, cities, and states often offer businesses 0% or low-interest loans for energy efficiency projects. This is a great way for businesses to save money while decreasing energy usage and reducing greenhouse gas emissions! Read on for loan details, program examples, and resource links.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program is hosting two Webinars tomorrow, Wednesday, November 18. The first targets recipients of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG), and the second targets state and local officials interested in the role of policy in renewable energy market development.
This country’s 130 million homes together generate more than 20% of the nation’s carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. This is one of the most significant contributing sources in the country to global warming. Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce home energy use by up to 40 percent per home on average which would also lower our national greenhouse gas emissions by 160 million metric tons annually by the year 2020. In addition doing so would reduce home energy bills by $21 billion a year and over time these savings would more than pay for the high up-front costs for energy efficiency retrofitting.
For over four years, I’ve monitored and posted positions that were either hard-core green jobs such as energy or environmental engineers, jobs that had a tint of green to them like a carpenter with a PV installer’s license or positions at companies with a strong record of sustainability such as a human resources opening at UTC Power. More often than not, the positions that were advertised did not emphasize the position’s green attributes. However recently, I have noticed that businesses and non-profits too, are now listing positions with some green requirements. I believe this is a result of several factors.
The United States has the potential to save more than $1.2 trillion in energy costs and cut consumption by 23 percent by 2020, according to a report released last week by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The comprehensive energy-efficiency strategy cited in the report removes approximately 1.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually — the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of light trucks and passenger vehicles off the roads. It also could produce savings that exceed California’s total annual energy consumption.
A new report released recently assessed exactly how 40 of the country’s largest cities are trying to limit their carbon footprints and take the steps needed to raise these efforts to the next level. The report, initiated and conducted by Living Cities, a collaboration of 21 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions is […]
The keystone of the green economy is a drastic increase in energy efficiency. Increasing our societies energy efficiency is the single most vital and important thing we need to do in order to have a green economy or in fact any kind of economy at all. It is also vitally important to throttle back the amounts of fossil fuel we burn in order to mitigate and diminish the rapid and potentially catastrophic climate change that is being driven by our fossil fuel habit.
Without much more energy efficient buildings and transportation systems nothing we do will be able to prevent an economic collapse brought about by the inevitable and rapidly approaching decline in the recoverable supplies of all forms of fossil energy. We cannot build out wind, geothermal, biofuel, or solar energy fast enough to sustain our civilization in the face of rapidly shrinking recoverable fossil energy reserves; unless we embark on an urgent and sustained drive to use energy (and other resources) with much higher efficiency.
Michigan’s Tax Credits Lure 4 Advanced Battery Makers Bringing 6,700 Jobs. Mayor Diaz Unveils Energy Smart Miami Program. Walmart to Place Solar Panels on Their Commercial Rooftop Which will Create About 130 Green Jobs in California. Vision Energy’s $1 Billion Wind Bet in Illinois will Create 290 Jobs. Many Private-Sector Companies Not Hiring Green Jobs Yet in Madison.
